Batteries- Why a Size "C"?

I did a search and found nothing identical to this.

I bought a walking, grunting truffles big today. (There goes my credibility). Anyway, it takes size “C” batteries. Naturally I only have size “AA”.

I can understand other sizes for small applications etc but what value does size “C” give? Do they last that much longer to counter my walking, grunting truffles pig having to carry the extra weight around?

AA supplies 1300 to 3000 milliampere-hours. C supplies up to 8,000 mAh.

Here’s a link to a Cecil column about battery sizes. How come you never see any B batteries? - The Straight Dope

Amount of available power as spark240 mentions is the reason.

I haven’t used a C in ages, but when I was a kid they typically went into electric powered toys. These were not big enough for a D, and needed too much power for an AA. As things shrunk, the use of AA and AAA went up - I don’t remember that we had a lot of these around 45 years ago.

:confused:

I’ve seen one or two things that took AAAA batteries–even smaller than AAA. One was a laser pointer.

Most electronics can run on AA now. A few decades past and you needed C and D for a lot of stuff. Just so you know those rechargeable 6 volt toy car packs are assembled from C cells as are tool power packs. For a power hog like you bought they needed the C’s.

“Not C! D! D, motherfucker! Learn to speak English!”

“Motherfuck YOU!”

“Motherfuck you…Heh, you all right, man.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but outside of smoke detectors there’s not much of a call for 9 volt batteries nowadays.

Bah! Find me another battery type that’s as fun to lick!

I think my little portable multimeter takes one. They were big in transistor radios - not much call for that anymore.

Digital clocks seem to use 9-volts as the backup power supply - the thing that keeps the time settings alive when the power goes out.

As a matter of fact, I just replaced one this afternoon.

My kitchen scale also requires a 9 volt, as do my outside drip irrigation timers.

a double C cell flashlight will easily fit in a pocket and last a long while. good compromise of lifetime and size.

As does my “Pocket Rockit” headphone amplifier for my electric guitar.

Isn’t 5V DC the standard for integrated circuits? Why no standardized 5 volt battery?

Probably because the actual voltage of the cell is determined by the chemicals they’re made of, and most are typically one-point-something volts per cell. AA, AAA, C, D, etc, are all single cells. A nine volter must be made up of a number of smaller cells. For a reliable 5V supply, you’d probably want to start higher, and regulate back down to 5V, so as not to drop lower when the batteries are just about dead.

Also, I think CMOS has a lot greater range in it’s operating voltages than TTL had. It’s been 20 years since I studied that stuff though.

And now that I think about it, Radio Raheem is very much a dated character now. Today, he wouldn’t be bopping down the street with his gargantuan radio. He’d be the guy with the sweet home theater in his apartment. And when he was out and about, he’d have his iPod. All he’d have to do with that is charge it; no need for 20 (20?!) D batteries. Perhaps that’s another reason urban tension has lessened; less need for interaction.

(And Buggin’ Out would have a blog, and Mookie would have a razor scooter, and Mr. Senor Love Daddy would be live streaming on the net…)

Yes, I discovered after one of my 9 volt batteries exploded that inside it were six tiny cylindrical batteries wired together.

BTW, I also discovered that it’s a bad idea to leave out a 9 volt battery on a table top next to an aluminum can. Turns out that if the battery is knocked over and the contacts come into, er, contact, with the can, it will eventually explode and scare the shit out of whoever is nearby.